Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has fired his chief of staff over allegations of “improper conduct” with a subordinate, the senator’s office announced Saturday.
Rubio said in a statement that he was first “made aware” of the allegations Friday afternoon. He said he flew from Florida to Washington on Saturday evening to terminate his chief of staff after conducting an investigation into the matter with his general counsel.
“I had sufficient evidence to conclude that while employed by this office, my Chief of Staff had violated office policies regarding proper relations between a supervisor and their subordinates,” Rubio’s statement read. “I further concluded that this led to actions which in my judgement amounted to threats to withhold employment benefits.”
Although the statement did not name the chief of staff, multiple news outlets, as well as social media accounts, have identified him as Clint Reed.
Reed became Rubio’s chief of staff in January 2017 after serving as the manager of his 2016 Senate campaign between June and December 2016, according to Reed’s LinkedIn profile.
Rubio’s office will notify the “appropriate” congressional and Senate administrative offices about the allegations on Monday, according to the senator’s statement.
“We have taken steps to ensure that those impacted by this conduct have access to any services they may require now or in the future,” Rubio said. “Pursuant to the wishes of those victimized by this conduct, we will not be disclosing any further details about the incidents which occurred.”
Neither Reed nor Rubio’s office immediately responded to HuffPost’s requests for comment.